Spotlight on Women in Gas: Emma McQuiggan
In our series of case studies, we’ve been speaking to some of our members, asking them about their careers to date and how IGEM has supported them so far. Emma McQuiggan is a Graduate member of IGEM and currently works as a Design Engineer at Gas Networks Ireland. Here, she tells us her story so far.
Emma’s first introduction to the gas industry was through a placement she undertook during her time studying mechanical engineering at university – “throughout my degree, I was fortunate enough to work at Firms Energy, a natural gas distribution company in Northern Ireland for 18 months,” she says.
“I returned as a Graduate Engineer in 2019 and, as Firmus Energy is a relatively small company, the exposure and experience that I was able to gain was amazing. I rotated throughout different teams, spending time in operations, maintenance, and construction. To say I’d found the right career for me would be an understatement – my friends say that if you were to cut me open, I’d bleed natural gas. I love that I get to solve problems and take theoretical concepts from design through to construction, as well as the variety in work and mixture of working between an office and out on site,” she adds.
A career move came in early 2022 when, after a great four years at Firmus Energy, an opportunity to work as a Design Engineer at Gas Networks Ireland came up. Emma started the role in January 2022 and is now part of the Transmission New Connections team, connecting new data centres and power stations to the transmission networks across Ireland.
“It’s a really exciting time to be working in this space as Gas Networks Ireland are planning to lay numerous new transmission pipelines and build new above ground installations across the Republic of Ireland to meet demand. This has been a rare occurrence in recent history and I’m looking forward to the different experiences and challenges over the next few years,” she says – adding that Gas Networks Ireland have already provided her with many opportunities to develop and increase her knowledge, and her next main career goal for the future will be to achieve chartered status with IGEM.
On IGEM membership, Emma says: “I came across IGEM as a student and loved that IGEM provided gas-specific, useful training and seminars that were applicable to my everyday job. I then got involved with IGEM as a member of the Gas Transmission Distribution Committee and then got involved further with IGEM’s Young Persons Network (YPN) and Academic Panel.
“The exposure and networking that being a part of these different committees provides me with is invaluable, especially given the early stages that I’m at in my career. Being a member of the Gas Transmission Distribution Committee allows me to see changes to standards before they come into effect, and it enables me to ensure that current company policies and procedures align with each relevant standard. Volunteering for an IGEM panel or committee is something I couldn’t recommend more – it’s a great opportunity to get involved in the writing of standards right from the beginning and to more fully understand how decisions have been made.”
According to Emma, a major highlight in her career so far has been attending events run by the YPN – “the YPN provide training opportunities that are usually very difficult to attend, and you also get to socialise with other young professionals in the industry. However, I have to say that I was slightly re-evaluating my career choice after watching explosions at Spadeadam, although they were amazing to see,” she jokes.
“My involvement with IGEM has allowed me to meet some amazing engineers and especially female engineers who I really admire. I often get asked what I think of females in engineering, or in the gas industry, and I think that having to ask that question in itself means that we still have a problem. The lack of female role models in senior positions and the many barriers that females face throughout their careers are some of the contributing factors. Confirm (a Science Foundation Ireland funded research centre) and South Easter Regional College are currently undertaking a study which aims to identify the barriers to entering engineering careers and study paths experienced by women and girls across Ireland. I think this type of research will be invaluable to the engineering industry and institutes to identify what we can do to help promote engineering pathways for women.
“Promoting diversity in the workplace has never been more important, given the increased creativity, innovation and problem solving that diversity provides and the major obstacles that we’re currently facing in terms of renewables and the need for innovation in the coming years. I’m really excited to see what the future of our industry holds, not only in terms of diversity but also with the pinnacle point that our energy systems are at.”
To find out more about becoming an IGEM Graduate member here.